Conventional rotorcraft (e.g., helicopters) require substantial pilot skill and workload for operation. As such, rotorcraft operators expend significant resources on pilot training and proficiency. High-speed Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft, such as compound aircraft (e.g., compound helicopters), tilt-rotor aircraft, and jump jets, are among the most complicated aircraft to pilot and require extensive training.
Such high-speed VTOL aircraft commonly require the pilot to simultaneously use five control inputs to control (indirectly control) two output states (e.g., airspeed and climb rate). For example, a tilt-rotor aircraft includes a first input to control pitch moment, a second input to control yaw moment, a third input to control roll moment, a fourth input to control proprotor thrust, and a fifth input to control proprotor shaft orientation. The pilot may have to coordinate all of these controls simultaneously to operate the aircraft. Additionally, such compound aircraft may include multiple trim solutions for specific states that are not intuitive, i.e., multiple solutions may exist to balance the moments and the thrust to achieve a desired state. For example, a particular trim solution may increase or minimize fuel burn, while another trim solution may reduce or minimize noise, and yet another trim solution may increase or maximize agility. Thus, with conventional controls the pilot cannot easily reconfigure the aircraft as the mission demands.